Composed until the end, Martin is champion

In the final rounds of the Holmes County Spelling Bee, Amber Martin wavered between first and second place, then she was at risk of being out of the running completely.

A few minutes later, after a rapid fire spelldown among three finalists, Martin, a West Holmes Middle School eighth grader, was named champion. She is the daughter of Larry and Judy Martin, Millersburg. Hiland Middle School seventh grader James Menuez, who placed second at the contest held Monday at West Holmes High School, is the son of Greg and Loretta Menuez, Millersburg.

In the seventh round, when Martin correctly spelled "martial," there was little doubt she was headed for regional competition, either as the winner or the runnerup of the county bee. She had only to correctly spell one more word to top Hiland eighth-grader David Duarte who had just misspelled "croquet."

Then things got complicated.

Hiland Middle School teacher/spelling sponsor Judy Alexander called out from the audience on behalf of Menuez, who was inadvertently skipped in the previous round that brought the contest down to three finalists.

Dropping back to round six, Menuez was given his turn and misspelled "courier."

A controversial decision was then made by the judges who voided round seven and called back all three finalists. Suzan Earney, bee coordinator for the Tri-County Educational Service Center, explained the determination to Martin's teacher sponsor, Lori Campbell, and the rest of the audience.

Much to the despair of several people in the audience, Martin's elimination was a strong possibility when she misspelled "cadences" on her next turn, but she seemed to have started a trend that worked in her favor. Duarte followed by misspelling "grievous." Menuez correctly spelled "sanitary," and was one word away from the championship. That word was "verbatim," and he misspelled it.

Martin's family and fans breathed a sigh of relief when another round began with all three finalists. "Kick me in the shins if I miss anybody," said Holmes County Common Pleas Judge Thomas D. White, who served as pronouncer for the bee.

Martin's final word, "melancholy," had the opposite effect on the eighth-grader and everyone who was rooting for her. She and Menuez are eligible to advance to the Regional Grand Final at GlenOak High School Auditorium in Canton on March 24.

"I was extremely nervous," Martin said as she hugged her trophy. "I did this for Grandma."

Her grandmother, Ruby Martin of Lakeville, died last Friday.

"When I missed that word, I thought I was out for good," said Martin, who admits she didn't study spelling every night. "From the start, I didn't think I'd win, but when it got down to the final round, I really got scared. But I thought I might get second."

Earney commended Martin for maintaining her composure under stress. The last West Holmes student to place first at the bee was Kira Foreman in 1998, who preceded a two-year winning streak by Katie Hochstetler of Chestnut Ridge in 1999 and 2000.

Twenty-six sixth through eighth grade spelling champions from nine schools in the East and West school districts competed in the annual bee. One contestant was eliminated in the first round; two in the second, and six over the next two rounds. The intermediate words, beginning in the fifth round, felled 11. Misspelled words included "bough," "arcing," "genial," "ruminant," "axiom," and "extraterrestrial."

Serving as judges were Linda Gehm, director of federal programs in East Holmes Local Schools; Sue Hennis and Susan English, consultants with the Tri-County Educational Service Center. A dictionary provided by the Holmes County Public Library was used for rulings on spellings.

Each contestant was awarded a certificate. The winner and runner-up each received a trophy and an atlas provided by Robin Hovis of Edward Jones Investments.